Close Light Punch and Crouch Light Punch are standard, hit-confirmable light attacks. They're fast, chain into themselves and leave you with a lot of frame advantage making them perfect for safe block strings.

STRONG (MEDIUM) PUNCH

Crouching Medium Punch is slower than Crouching Medium Kick but it serves as a better poke in certain situations. It has more range than Crouching Medium Kick and provides more frame advantage, allowing you to set up frame traps or combo into certain normals. Try linking a Standing Medium Kick from max distance off of Crouching Medium Punch.

Diagonal Jump Medium Punch is a decent anti-air that can juggle an opponent. If you hit an opponent with both hits of the attack, you're able to combo into an Ultra or EX Psycho Crusher after you land. However if you stop at the first hit, you can combo into another normal to set up some interesting mixups. Example: Hell Attack (1-hit), Close Heavy Punch xx Heavy Psycho Crusher (Psycho Crushercrosses up) or Hell Attack (1-hit), Crouching Heavy Kick (possible to safe jump after this or use meaty Psycho Crusher to cross up).

Because of the potential damage off of this attack, it's a great air-to-air provided you're in range of your opponent and you react quickly.

FIERCE (HARD) PUNCH

Close Heavy Punch is Bison's highest damaging normal that can be cancelled into a special move. Its primary use is a punisher but thanks to Street Fighter 4's lack of block stun, it can be used as an effective counterhit setup against players trying to crouch tech. Besides the obvious Crouching Light Kick link, you will be able to combo a Standing Heavy Kick or a Crouching Medium Kick if the Close Heavy Punch lands as a counterhit.Crouching Heavy Punch is an anti-air. It is difficult to use due to its slow start up, so learning the correct situations where it can be used and the timing involved is crucial to using this move effectively.

Diagonal Jump Heavy Punch is one of Bison's best normals. Not only is it Bison's most damaging air attack, its particular hitbox makes it a good air-to-air and hard to anti-air if used as a jump in. Also it cancross up sometimes, more easily in the corner, setting up some high damage ambiguous jump-ins.

SHORT (LIGHT) KICK

Crouching Light Kick is arguably Bison's most important move. It is a 3 frame low attack that can be linked into itself and other normals, making it the ideal punish, combo starter and counterattack. Due tothe two-button throw system in Street Fighter 4, Crouching Light Attack doubles as a crouch tech making it annoying for opponents who do not have an obvious answer to crouch techs.

Standing Light Kick is not as fast as Crouching Light Kick but it is still a useful attack. It has decent horizontal range and combos into Light and Medium normals. This move is good for combos when CloseStanding Light Punch or your other light attacks are out of range. Although it is a 1 frame link, you can combo into a Standing Light Kick off of a Crouching Light Kick, letting you build a charge for a combo. You can also use Standing Light Kick, in anticipation, to counter moves like Rufus's dive kick.

FORWARD (MEDIUM) KICK

Standing Medium Kick has the most horizontal range out of Bison's pokes. It has even greater range than his Standing Heavy Kick and, because the kick is parallel to the ground, it will not whiff if you are within range. Use this move to keep your opponents out or build charge while using it in block strings. Even though certain characters can punish it with a focus dash, do not hesitate to use this move.

Crouching Medium Kick is used in many combos and can be linked after several normals. It has decent range and can be cancelled into any special. It has more active frames than most grounded normals so it can be used to interrupt crouch techs and other moves from close range.

Neutral Jump Medium Kick is an average anti-air with good horizontal range. It is not Bison's best anti-air option but keep it in mind as Bison does not have a Dragon Punch-like anti-air.

Diagonal Jump Medium Kick is a cross-up with a big hitbox and 14 active frames. It is much easier to land than Diagonal Jump Heavy Kick and can be quite ambiguous. This move is good against characters lacking a fast Dragon Punch-like special move.

ROUNDHOUSE (HARD) KICK

Standing Heavy Kick is one of Bison's best normals. It deals 110 damage unless it hits at the tip, which deals 80 damage. It is a fast and versatile move that can be used as a poke, anti-air or counterattack. Learn its ranges as its active hitbox does not fully extend horizontally to his foot.

Crouching Heavy Kick is Bison's classic slide. It is a sweep that moves across the stage at a decent speed. If your opponent is hit by Crouching Heavy Kick, they will not be able to tech and recover. It isvery punishable on block so do not throw this move out recklessly, but learn the ranges for it and you will be able to surprise your opponents from various

Neutral Jump Heavy Kick can be used as an anti-air, but its usefulness depends on the angle of the opponent's jump. The active hitbox on Bison's leg comes out at a downward angle making it better in situations where the opponent is lower than you.

Diagonal Jump Heavy Kick has is Bison's longest forward-jumping normal attack. Its range makes it good against projectile characters. You can also use this as a cross-up, but the timing and spacing is very strict. It hits differently from his other commonly used jump-in attack, Diagonal Jump Heavy Punch, so practice using both varying the spacing and timing. You will be surprised at what moves it can stop.

COMMAND NORMALS

Hell Attack

Jumping MP, MP

Hell Attack has the unique ability to juggle an opponent. If you hit an opponent with both hits of the attack, you're able to combo into an Ultra or EX Psycho Crusher after you land. However, if you stop at the first hit, you can combo into another grounded normal to set up some interesting mixups. Example: Hell Attack (1-hit), Close Heavy Punch xx Heavy Psycho Crusher (Psycho Crusher crosses up) or Hell Attack (1-hit), Crouching Heavy Kick (possible to safe jump after this or use meaty Psycho Crusher to cross up).

Because of the potential damage off of this attack, it's a great air-to-air provided you're in range of your opponent and you react quickly. If you master your match ups, the Hell Attack will become one of your most important moves.

Good to use in combos. It does more damage and stun than Scissor Kick but it may go through your opponent leaving you in a bad position. If used as a meaty attack, both regular and EX versions can be used to cross up opponents. Light Crusher is safe on block at max range. Close Heavy Crusher is safe on block against certain characters. EX Crusher is safe at max range and point-blank (against certain characters). EXCrusher does not have projectile invincibility like EX Scissor Kick but it does absorbs up to 2 hits of a projectile allowing you to go through certain projectiles. However if it absorbs 2 hits of a projectile, it will no longer be able to hit the opponent.

SCISSOR KICK

CHARGE BACK, FORWARD + KICK

Light kick Scissor Kick is Bison's most useful version. It is safe on block and deals chip damage. While it does not do a lot of damage by itself, you can keep using it to force the opponent to avoid it. The Medium and Heavy versions are best suited for combos but there are other uses for the moves. They go further than the Light version making it possible to catch your opponent's backdashes. Also certain characters cannot punish them on block at max range, giving you more space to control. The EX version will pass through projectiles and other attacks but is very unsafe on block.

HEADSTOMP

CHARGE DOWN, UP + KICK

Head Stomp tracks your opponent's last location. The move is easy to avoid if used predictably. Use it as a meaty for some extra chip damage after a knockdown, or as an anti-air if you can react to or anticipate your opponent's jump or airborne attack. Even though you can use regular Head Stomp, the EX version is much better as an anti-air since it has start up invincibility.

Move left or right after hitting the Head Stomp and you can guide Bison for his Skull Diver follow up. Skull Diver can be used as an EX if you have the meter to spare. You can combo into other normals off of normal and EX Skull Diver.

DEVILS REVERSE

CHARGE DOWN, UP + PUNCH ~ PUNCH

This Special Move is used for building meter and positioning. It can be used as a feint to bait certain moves allowing you to punish your opponent afterwards with the follow up. The follow up "psycho power" attack after the jump can be focused by the opponent, leading to a crumple so sometimes it is wise to use the EX follow up to hit them. You can opt to not press punch after the initial jump, and Bison will land in front of the opponent recovering more quickly than he wouldfrom a missed Head Stomp.

PSYCHO WARP

Bison's teleport, the Psycho Warp, allows him extreme mobility and a way to get out of situations where he is being pressured. That said, learning where each teleport will end up on the screen is critical in its application.

Bison's teleport is a good Reversal that allows you to escapeunfavorable situations without much repercussion. Be wary of using it as a wake up Reversal because some characters can option select or react and punish it. One lesser known use of Psycho Warp is to back throw a charge character then teleport behind your opponent making them lose their charge.

SUPER - KNEE PRESS NIGHTMARE

CHARGE BACK, FORWARD, BACK, FORWARD + KICK

Knee Press Nightmare is projectile invincible during all of its active frames. Don't expect to use Bison's Super all that often with his EX meter being so useful for his special attacks, although it can be helpful when going for that final blow to finish off the other player.

ULTRA 1 - NIGHTMARE BOOSTER

CHARGE BACK, FORWARD, BACK, FORWARD + THREE KICKS

Most players will opt to go with Bisons second Ultra even though it does less damage, mainly because this Ultra not only requires a charge but is limited in its uses.

Ultra 1 is mostly useful to punish an opponent. You can combo it off of a Hell Attack (aka Diagonal Jump Medium Punch) but that is not always possible.

ULTRA 2 - PSYCHO PUNISHER

CHARGE BACK, FORWARD, BACK, FORWARD + THREE PUNCHES

Ultra 2 is now a charge move making it much less effective against everything. It is still useful against certain projectiles though.

Remember, after a light kick scissor kick, you are neutral on block, this essentially means that whoever throws out the first move will hit (assuming you both throw out a move). With this knowledge, mixing up your scissor kick pressure with ex scissor kick, crouching light kick, or standing roudhouse are good options.

To prevent another Bison player from using his scissor kick, throw hard kick out. Even if it whiffs, it's hard to punish. By throwing it out, sometimes you can stop Bison players from throwing out too many scissor kicks.

Save meter on your wakeup. Use teleport to get out of pressure. Meter in this matchup is better used for fakes (ex devil reverse) or focus attack dash canceling.

vs. Blanka

Blanka's horizontal ball can be punished with any scissor kick on block.

If you don't have charge, at certain distances, Blanka's horizontal ball can be punished with crouching hard kick (slide).

For the most part, don't cross Blanka up on wakeup. His electricty and upball will beat your attempts.

Scissor kick pressure and its mixups are key in this matchup. Know the distance of crouching light kick (where it can beat eletricity) and force Blanka to act by breaking his guard with tick throws.

If Abel does his mixup with his Change of Direction (and you block) just teleport out.

vs. Ryu

The most important part about this matchup is figuring out what kind of Ryu you're facing. If the Ryu player uses a lot of shoryukens on his wakeup, back dash and hard kick him. If you do this enough times, then you lead the player into thinking shoryuken is never safe. This is when you can do a 180 and go for tick throws or further pressure with scissor kick.

Devil reverse and headstomp are good tools at first, but as Ryus (and other players) get more advanced, this becomes less and less effective. Try not to use them much because the mixup lacks consistency.

Utilize standing medium kick pressure to prevent Ryu from throwing fireballs and do your best to get Ryu into the corner where your footsies dominate over Ryu.

vs. Ken

Ken's kara throw mixups are powerful against most characters, but if you ever feel too pressured, simply spam teleport to get out of it.

If you get hit by Ken's ex tornado kick, it's usually best to use ex psycho crusher to get out of his mixup (he can throw, shoryuken, or use a normal move to continue pressure). Ex psycho crusher beats two of those options, but once he starts wising up and using shoryuken, simply block.

Most of the Ryu strategies apply to Ken. Get him into the corner and use superior footsies.

vs. Chun Li

At the very beginning of the first round, neither of you have meter, but this is your cue to rush down Chun Li before she gets it. When she has one bar, she can break your mixup game, but otherwise, do your best to bait her ex spinning bird kicks.

Chun Li has a poor anti-air game, so as long as you keep on top of her, you can pressure her into the corner and deal damage.

On her wakeup, mix it up between neutral jumping fierce, throw, block, meaty scissor kick, head stomp, and standing hard kick.

Save meter for focus attack dash canceling and ex psycho crusher. There's no real use for it outside of that.

Any pressure that Chun Li has should be escaped through a teleport. Her hazanshu gives her advantage on block, so if you stick something out, she will counter hit most of the time.

vs. Dhalsim

First, understand that against any good Dhalsim player, you are always going to take a hit before getting in on him. Don't fret about taking damage, because once you're in, you will win. Bison has the easiest time on staying on a Dhalsim because his moves all travel.

Bison's crouching roundhouse can beat Dhalsim's standing fierce. Just throwing it out randomly here and there will benefit you really well.

Focus attack and absorbing a hit to get in is also important. Get in on Dhalsim and utilize stand roundhouse a lot. Dhalsim doesn't really have an answer to it.

When you knock Dhalsim down, always do a meaty move. Dhalsim has no good wakeup game, only teleport. If he teleports you can simply dash in and continue the pressure.

vs. Zangief

This matchup has evolved a lot with time. Initially, it was all about building meter at the begining in preparation of a knock down. Most of the matchup would revolve around Bison running away and trying to deal his damage slowly. Now, the matchup is all about spacing and standing roundhouse.

Standing hard kick beats Zangief's lariat on whiff AND on startup. This means you win if you throw it out earlier than his lariat or later. If you do it in between then you get hit, so this is about your reaction as well as your pressure.

Neutral Jumping hard kick will beat most of Zangief's jump attacks. Stay at least one Zangief apart from him to have enough time to judge what he's going to do.

If Zangief ever pressures you with a block string, there is almost NEVER a reason why you shouldn't be trying to get out with teleport. Teleport evades his combo or a tick throw. The only time you wouldn't do it is when you're in the corner or if you think he's going to try to greenhand, whiff, then throw you.

Always maintain the distance of one Zangief apart. This makes it hard for him to get in on you as well as makes it easy for you to react. This distance also makes it so if he tries to greenhand you, it will hit you. On block or hit, a normal greenhand is negative, so you can simply throw him. This will pressure Zangief into doing something risky to knock you down like ex greenhand, so keep yourself random so he will never know.

vs. Rose

Against Rose, space correctly and jump accordingly to punish her fireballs with hard punch, hard kick, and medium kick.

Once Rose has meter, be very careful about jumping in on her.

Rose lacks reliable wakeup options. For the most part, abuse crouching light kick and combo it into scissor kick or use it as a tick throw.

Work on putting Rose into the corner. When you have her there, abuse standing hard kick and standing medium kick.

vs. C. Viper

Against Viper, standing hard kick can beat a lot of her shenanigans as long as you space it correctly. Back dash on her wakeup to bait her anti-air special and hard kick. Always wait for the response in case she wants to use ex flame kick.

Flame kick loses to standing hard kick with the right distance.

Rush Viper down when she doesn't have meter. This severely limits her wakeup options. Also, this is when you are going to get most of your damage. Back off accordingly when momentum is off.

If a Viper is spamming her projectile, you can (although it is risky) do a punch teleport (forward teleport), and then headstomp her. The notation is down forward, down, downfoward + three punches. This allows you to keep your charge.

vs. El Fuerte

El Fuerte has a lot of trouble playing his knockdown game on Bison. Bison's escapes are teleport, ex psycho crusher, devils reverse, and crouching hard kick (slide). For the most part, use teleport to save meter, but if the El Fuerte delays his run (to predict the teleport), ex psycho crusher.

Once you have a lead, sit on it. Fuerte should be the one working to win this match.

Use a meaty crouching light kick and standing hard kick to prevent most of Fuerte's wakeup options. Once Fuerte has his ultra, use meaty moves with small recovery, so you won't eat the ultra.

If a Fuerte lands his infinite on you, use teleport to escape. The timing is strict, so sometimes Fuerte's players mess this up.

vs. Akuma

Akuma has a good keep away game, but Bison has many ways to get in.

Although at higher levels, headstomp and devils reverse mixup are pretty risky, the reward against Akuma is incredibly high (he has low life), so using this is fine at times.

Once Akuma is in the corner, back dash in case he shoryukens or teleports out. If he teleports out, punish with a standing hard kick.

If you feel comftorable with a defensive Bison, that is fine. Getting a lead and sittting on it, especially when Akuma has his ultra, works.

To fight against Akuma's fireball pressure, either work yourself in and standing medium kick pressure or forward teleport headstomp him (covered in Viper area for notation).

vs. Rufus

If a Rufus is abusing his dive kick, a properly-timed headstomp WILL stop it and get you out of pressure (and the corner).

Space yourself well with standing hard kick. It stops a lot of Rufus's air options and will keep him out.

When Rufus has ultra meter, do your best to NOT jump. For the most part, you shouldn't be jumping against Rufus.

vs. Sagat

This matchup is essentially the battle of the hard kicks. Bison's hard kick doesn't hit as hard, but it is faster. Use it as meaty's against Sagat or throw it out after Sagat whiffs a tiger knee or standing hard kick as a punish.

Be very patient in this matchup. All it takes it one tiger uppercut to lose your lead. Get a lead and sit on it. Evading fireballs with Bison is easy. Jump, duck, or devils reverse. However, if you choose to use devils reverse, don't go past midscreen, otherwise he can forward hard kick you and combo into his ultra.

Crouching hard kick (slide) can go under high tiger shots.

Sagat is a big target, so this is one of the matchups where jumping hard kick is a very reliable cross up. Mix this up with medium kick and throw.

vs. Vega

Vega's walldive attacks can be punished with standing hard kick.

If you are unsure where Vega's walldive attack will hit, crouching hard kick (slide) to get out of there or teleport.

If a Vega is using his flips a lot, simply walk up and standing hard kick or slide and hard kick. Bison can be creative on his way to cover distance. You can even time a scissor kick or ex psycho crusher.

Against Vega, always use meaty attacks on his wakeup. He has no reliable wakeup options because Bison's moveset allows him to pressure his backflip escapes.

vs. E. Honda

Play this matchup slowly. It's not supposed to be fancy. Use cross up medium kick a lot to ruin his charge.

Do not jump in on Honda when he has meter. In fact, if you do jump in on him, it should almost always be a crossup. Jumping hard punch can beat his ex headbutt at times (if a move hits his back, it will knock him out of it).

Jump back medium punch, medium punch can beat out Honda's anti-air. Use it as a wakeup option against Honda or as an escape.

vs. Guile

This is a very difficult matchup for Bison, but the goal is very clear. Put Guile into the corner and put him there. If you play this matchup too safe, you won't win. You have to take risks because Guile has all the tools to beat your moveset. Crouching fierce can beat headstomp. Ex scissor kick cannot punish a light punch sonic boom reliably because of sonic boom's recovery. You have to find a pattern against Guile and find ways to punish. Walk and block a lot. You need to put Guile into the corner to stand a chance.

Guile's crouching hard kick is rarely used by good Guiles. If a Guile does spam it, simply focus attack (absorb the first hit) dash in and throw him into the corner.

Use focus attack when you think Guile will throw a sonic boom and dash immediately to throw him. If you see the focus attack animation (where Bison crosses his arms), you are taking too long.

Medium kick pressure Guile a lot to stop his sonic booms.

When you do a block string against Guile, mix it up with throws and awkwardly timed moves into scissor kick (so if he thinks you are going to throw, he will whiff and eat the move). For example, crouching light punch, standing light punch, standing light kick, wait, crouching medium kick, scissor kick.

Once you knock Guile down, stay on tof him. You need to pressure Guile as much as you can while you can.

vs. Cammy

Cammy's damage comes from her mixups via meter. When Cammy has meter, do not go for consecutive scissor kicks. Instead, you are better off being patient and punishing her risks. Turtle in this matchup.

A good trick against Cammy players is to crouching light kick twice, then wait. If the Cammy player decides to use her cannon spike, then punish accordingly. Mix this up with throws, but for the most part, be very careful with tick throwing in this matchup. Use it sparingly, then when your opponent thinks you don't throw much, use them a lot on their wakeup or in your block string.

Watch for empty jumps with Cammy. When Cammy players have meter, they like to crossup empty jump cannon spike.

If you are feeling pressure by a Cammy block string, teleport out. The worst you will get hurt is from her spiral arrow (her horizontal special move).

vs. Feilong

Feilong doesn't have reliable ways to combo into his ultra, so your choice of going defensive or offensive in this matchup is purely preference.

Use meaty standing hard kick if you feel a Feilong might try his rekkas.

Ex headstomp will beat Feilong's anti-air special (flame kick) on his wakeup. Mixing this up with throw and meaty crouching light kick will give you plenty of pressure.

Meter isn't incredibly important in this matchup, so you can a few more tricks like fake ex devils reverse and throw or crossup ex psycho crusher (use ex in case you mess up the timing on his wakeup, so you are far away).

vs. Gouken

Gouken lacks strong normals so cautiously get in against Gouken's fireballs and then apply pressure with your normals. Make him hate standing roundhouse.

Once Gouken is in the corner, be awkward. Don't always throw out meaty moves, so you can bait a parry and throw. Gouken doesn't have a good air hurricane kick, so he can't easily get out.

Because Gouken doesn't have good normals, if a Gouken starts pressuring you with normals and has ultra meter, he's likely going for a tick throw. Tech the tick throw or simply dash back out of his pressure and standing roundhouse to keep your distance.

Empty jump throw Gouken to make his parry option unreliable. Jumping fierce, standing fierce, crouching light kick, scissor kick as a block string works well against Gouken because he doesn't have a shoryuken, so he can't punish the gap between the two fierce/hard punches.

vs. Sakura

Sakura does not have a reliable anti-air. Feel free to cross her up on her wakeup.

Do not back dash on Sakura's wakeup. Her shoryuken travels horizontally, so it will catch you. Instead neutral jump roundhouse as a bait instead.

Sakura's fireball is rather slow, so if you use ex scissor kick as a punish, be sure to be close, otherwise you will get hit by the fireball, or worse, you will go through the fireball at an incorrect distance and Sakura will block it.

vs. Gen

Gen's walldive can be annoying, but they are slow, so you can ex headstomp him, back dash hard kick, ex psycho crusher, and jump hard kick him.

Gen's damage is low, so you shouldn't worry too much about repercussions. Get in on Gen and deal damage. If you are the one applying the pressure, Gen won't be able to apply tricks.

Avoid Gen's crossup by teleporting or ex psycho crusher.

Scissor kick with standing hard kick to keep Gen from jumping out of the corner.

vs. Seth

Bison has ways to get in on Seth, so his sonic boom zoning isn't as powerful. In fact, the recovery of his sonic boom isn't like Guile, so ex scissor kick is reliable.

If you corner a Seth, use ex headstomp to stop him from escaping. Because Seth's life is really low, it is unlikely the Seth player will choose to use his shoryuken (if he does it early, it will beat your headstomp).

Seth's long limbs can keep you away, but use focus attack (absorb) and dash in to close in on Seth. Crouching roundhouse will beat his forward fierce.

vs. Dan

Dan's ultra can be focus attack. Absorb the ultra, let go, and punish with your own ultra.

Pressure Dan on his wakeup always. His shoryuken is horrible, so stay about half a bison apart, so it whiffs and then hard kick him on his wakeup.

Feel free to build meter in this round. He can't punish you with his fireball. Don't use headstomp to punish his fireballs however because it is unlikely a Dan is using fireballs to zone from full screen. It's more to build meter. He will be looking for a punish.